Investigations – Page 23

Dr. Ayoub Sayeg arrives at a court hearing at the Daley Center in the Loop on Aug. 19, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/baiduhai)

Illinois plastic surgeon with 8 patient deaths faces another license suspension

By Christy Gutowski

October 6, 2026 at 11:14 a.m.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs temporarily suspended Dr. Ayoub Sayeg’s medical license,...

Gov. JB Pritzker joined Mayor Lori Lightfoot, right, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, second from left, and public health experts in updating residents on March 12, 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. Illinois, Chicago and Cook County received $11 billion through the American Rescue Plan Act amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A Tribune-University of Chicago Mansueto Institute analysis revealed few efforts to identify potential waste and abuse of that money. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Illinois, Chicago, Cook County got $11B in pandemic aid but there were gaps in oversight and transparency

By Dan Petrella

September 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The Tribune and the University of Chicago's Mansueto Institute examined how Illinois, Chicago and Cook...

Weiss Memorial Hospital, in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, was closed in August 2025 after federal regulators cut off Medicare funding over safety issues. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Illinois ignores rules and red flags as ‘servant leader’ runs up $100M state tab, then closes 2 hospitals

By Joe Mahr

August 30, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

West Suburban and Weiss Memorial's collapse illustrates what can go wrong in a state that...

The story behind the story: Join reporters Cecilia Reyes and Madison Hopkins as they moderate an online panel discussion about the role of city government in fatal Chicago fires.

Free virtual event: 42 fires, 61 deaths and a broken system of city oversight. Join us to discuss ‘The Failures Before the Fires’

By baiduhai

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

The fire started one floor below the sleeping family, in an apartment with no smoke...

Buildings Commissioner Matthew Beaudet inspects a residential property with code violations March 3, 2021, in the Austin neighborhood.

Advocates to Lightfoot: Fatal fires investigation shows Chicago building safety policies need fixing

By Cecilia Reyes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

Tenant advocates and public officials are calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to hold landlords more...

Mourners line up outside Our Lady of Angels Church for the funeral for three nuns Dec. 4, 1958. Sisters Mary St. Canice Lyng, 44, Mary Seraphica Kelley, 43, and Mary Clare Therese Champagne, 26, died in the fire at Our Lady of the Angels grade school on Dec. 1 in Chicago.

Lessons unheeded: Over and over, Chicago fails to learn from fatal fires

By Cecilia Reyes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

When a Chicago fire makes headlines, politicians often push for new safety standards. Sometimes these...

Eric Patton Smith poses for a portrait in Lake Meadows Park in the Bronzeville neighborhood Thursday Aug. 13, 2020, in Chicago. Smith's daughter, 7-year-old Eri'ana Patton Smith, was the youngest of four children killed in 2014 when a fire erupted in her mother's apartment building in the Roseland neighborhood. Now Smith wears a locket with a photo of his daughter Eri'ana. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Deadly Fires, Broken Promises: Chicago’s political leaders fail to enact safety rules that stick

By Cecilia Reyes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

After a fire killed four children in a South Side apartment building with known fire...

The Failures Before the Fires: How we reported this story

By Cecilia Reyes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

To report this series, the BGA and the Tribune first identified every fatal fire that...

Firefighters at the scene of the blaze in a courtyard apartment building.

The Failures Before the Fires: In six years, 61 people died in Chicago buildings where the city knew of fire safety issues

By Cecilia Reyes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

The fire that killed four of Shamaya Coleman's children raced through their South Side building...

Eunicka Green holds a stuffed elephant containing the ashes of her 5-year-old daughter Kaitlynn Jeffries on June 25, 2020, in Chicago. Kaitlynn was killed in a fire in 2019.

42 fires, 61 deaths: A story of failed city oversight

By Cecilia Reyes

June 14, 2024 at 6:47 p.m.

Since 2014, Chicago fires have killed at least 61 people in buildings where city officials...

Attorney General Merrick Garland rescinds Trump-era memo that curtailed use of consent decrees used in investigations of police departments

By Associated Press

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday rescinded a Trump-era memo that curtailed the use of...

Parishioners raise their hands in worship as the Rev. Michael Pfleger leads the Sunday morning service at St. Sabina Church on June 6, 2021. "It's good to be home," an emotional Pfleger said to a packed and jubilant crowd at St. Sabina Church — his first time leading a congregation in five months.

Third man alleges inappropriate behavior by beloved South Side priest Pfleger

By Christy Gutowski

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

As the Chicago Archdiocese investigates allegations that the Rev. Michael Pfleger molested two brothers in...

10 years of Madigan coverage: Read the Tribune’s investigations into Illinois’ House speaker

By baiduhai

June 14, 2024 at 6:48 p.m.

Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has been under fire since a federal political corruption...